Sunday, October 4, 2015

OTBR: Piojo Ranch in New Mexico

Latitude: N 35° 48.582
Longitude: W 104° 58.998

A child on a road trip with his family asks, "Where are we?" and the father answers, "Let's check the map. We're off the blue roads [the Interstate Highways marked in blue on the road atlas]. We're off the red roads [the US and state highways]. We're off the black roads [the county highways]. I think we're off the map altogether." It was always my dream to be off the map altogether.

After the jump, a few of the random places (and I mean random literally) that I visited vicariously last month that are "off the blue roads".

POTD: Incense at Thien Mu Pagoda

From 2015 03 24 Hue

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the 400-year-old Thiên Mu Pagoda in Hué, Vietnam. It sits on a hill on a bend of the Huong (Perfume) River. The seven-story pagoda is one of the tallest religious buildings in Vietnam.

"A building near the rear of the complex houses a national relic: the car in which the monk Thich Quang Duc rode from his temple to Saigon on June 11, 1963. He stepped out of the car in an intersection, sat down in the lotus position, and burned himself to death in protest against the regime's violations of religious freedom." -- sacred-destinations.com

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Football: Lake Highlands 63, Mesquite 28


From 2015 10 02 Mesquite vs Lake Highlands
The Lake Highlands Wildcats improved their District 10-6A record to 2-0 with a dominating 63-28 win over Mesquite Friday night. Mesquite drops to 0-2.

All the action, including the game, cheerleaders, drill team, colorguard, marching band and all the rest that make high school football the best value in sports entertainment, can be seen on Google Photos. Remember, without the band, it's just a game.

Repeat Tweets: Blocked Punt for a Touchdown

Repeat tweets from September, 2015:

  • Sep 3 2015: Blocked punt for a touchdown by Berkner with 30 seconds left sends this game to overtime. Naaman Forest 30, Berkner 30. #txhsfb @BerknerHS
  • Sep 3 2015: Final in overtime: Garland Naaman Forest 30, Berkner 33. It's a great time to be a Ram! #txhsfb @BerknerHS
  • Sep 4 2015: 173,000 new jobs in August. Unemployment lowest since March, 2008. Wait for @PeteSessions's statement blaming Obama.
  • Sep 5 2015: Surprising and heartwarming reaction in Germany to refugees. Boosts my faith in humanity.
  • Sep 7 2015: Dallas Morning News Defensive player of the week: Berkner's John Lewis. If you missed the game, sucks for you. dallasnews.com

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Friday, October 2, 2015

A Tale of Two Cities: Plano and Richardson

My inbox contained one of those civic booster stories that reads like something the real estate business is always generating: "Downtown Plano recognized as one of 'Great Places in America'". You read that right. Plano. It turns out that, beneath the hype, there are some secrets to success worth emulating. The story highlights the downtown DART station (public transit), the 1,000 residential units nearby (density), and streets redesigned to be cyclist- and pedestrian-friendly (walkability). Saying it's one of the "Great Places in America" might be over the top, but Richardson would be foolish not to recognize the good things happening just to our north.